Company Matches

Trump rally: CEOs of Dow companies make $400 million

It's no wonder that so many CEOs who meet with President Trump leave the White House smiling these days.

The CEOs of companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average have enjoyed a collective $402 million surge in the value of their stock holdings since Trump's election, according to a study by Equilar. That's an 18.4% increase, compared with the Dow's overall gain of 11% during that period.

Goldman's(GS) post-election rally of more than 30% has boosted the value of CEO Lloyd Blankfein's stock by an incredible $146 million since November 8, Equilar estimates. Blankfein probably didn't see that coming in late 2015 when he said the idea of Trump having his "finger on the button blows my mind."

The Trump rally has also been very kind to Jamie Dimon. The JPMorgan(JPM) boss has racked up a $116 million increase in his stock holdings.

Other CEOs winning big thanks to the Trump rally include American Express(AXP) chief Kenneth Chenault and Boeing's(BA) Dennis Muilenburg.

Equilar measured the stock holdings of the Dow 30 CEOs between Election Day and February 10. For now, these are gains are just on paper, and they could evaporate if the Trump rally fades.The study excluded three CEOs who left their positions after the election, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

To join the Trump administration, Tillerson agreed to sell more than $54 million worth of ExxonMobil(XOM) stock and put $181 million in additional shares in a blind trust. Tillerson may have stepped down as Exxon CEO at the right time: the oil giant's stock is down 10% so far this year.

Many Dow CEOs have visited Trump at the White House to talk about his agenda. Dimon, IBM(IBM) CEO Ginni Rometty, Walmart(WMT) CEO Doug McMillon and Disney(DIS) CEO Bob Iger all met with Trump as part of the president's CEO advisory council.

Wall Street has bid up stocks since the election as investors bet that Trump's promises to slash taxes, unleash infrastructure spending and cut red tape will stimulate the economy and boost corporate profits. It also helps that the U.S. economy looks healthy and interest rates remain historically low.